1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to recording television programs in connection with an electronic program guide. More specifically, the present invention relates to resolving conflicts between conflicting television programs when the capabilities of the recording system are not sufficient to record all requested programs simultaneously.
2. The Prior State of the Art
For years, home entertainment systems have allowed viewers to record television programs for later viewing. The earliest systems for recording television programs in a viewer's home were video cassette recorders (VCRs) that recorded the audio/video signal received at the viewer's home on a video cassette having a magnetic tape recording medium. In order to record program, the viewer tuned to the appropriate channel, waited for the program to start, and activated the VCR such that the program was recorded on the recording medium. This practice enabled viewers to time shift programs and to watch them at a later time.
Video cassette recorders were soon equipped with programmable systems, which, in response to user input, automatically initiated the recording process to record a program received in the home at a time when the VCR was unattended. Such programmable capabilities enabled viewers to record programming during sleeping hours, while the viewers were away from the home, or at other times when it was not convenient to manually activate the recording process.
During recent years, other recording media in addition to magnetic tape have become available. For instance, it is now common for television programs to be recorded on hard disks in set top boxes associated with televisions. Although different media are now available, the basic concept of recording television programs for later viewing has not significantly changed. Another recent development is the electronic program guide (EPG), which graphically displays television program listings on television screens. FIG. 1 illustrates a graphical user interface associated with an electronic program guide 10. Although there are various EPGs being used today, EPG 10 is a representative example that displays programs in a grid format, in which programs broadcasted on multiple channels in various time slots can be seen and understood at a glance. EPG 10 includes a time index 12 arrayed along one of the row of the EPG 10 and a channel index 14 arrayed along one of the columns of the EPG. In this example, time slots ranging from 5:00 until 7:30 are displayed in time slot index 12, while channel index 14 includes Channels 26-30. In a typical EPG, the viewer can scroll along both axes to learn of television programs being broadcasted at different times and on different channels. By glancing at EPG 10, the viewer can learn, for instance, that the program Grizzly Adams 20 is broadcast on channel 27 in the time slot extending from 5:30 to 6:30.
While EPGs can assist the viewer in identifying when programs are being broadcast, they have also been used to streamline the process of programming recording systems. For instance, a viewer may wish to record the program Friends 16 on Channel 26 at 6:00 upon looking at EPG 10. Depending on the user interface associated with the set top box that includes EPG 10, the viewer may need to the manually program the VCR or another recording system, or use specific features of the user interface of the set top box to program the recording system. In conventional systems that include programming features in the user interface, the viewer may simply be required to select the box or region of EPG associated with the program Friends 16, to indicate that Friends is to be recorded. Alternatively, the viewer may be required to go to a different user interface page or display to cause the recording system to be programmed appropriately. Many viewers have encountered a situation in which they attempt to program the recording system to record one television program that coincides with the broadcast of another program that previously has been selected for recording. For instance, the viewer may have selected the program Friends 16 to be recorded at 6:00 and the program Taxi 18 to be recorded at 7:00. Conventional recording systems can handle this type of request because program 16 and program 18 do not coincide or overlap. If however, the viewer were to later select Grizzly Adams 20 to be recorded, a conflict would be created between program 20 and program 16, since at least part of both programs are broadcasted in the 6:00 time slot.
Some conventional recording systems prohibit the selection of program 20 for recording when program 16 has previously been selected. Accordingly, if the viewer were to attempt to program the recording system to record program 20, the viewer would first have to manually deselect program 16 and then reselect program 20. Other conventional systems allow program 20 to be selected, without indicating that there is a conflict resulting gin the viewer falsely believing that program 20 will be recorded. Each of the foregoing conventional approaches to managing conflicts between coinciding programs has limitations and distracts form the viewer experience. For instance, prohibiting selection of a later program based on a conflict with a previously selected program can cause viewers to have to go through the trouble of manually deselecting the previous program, if desired. In contrast, those conventional systems that enable selection of a conflicting program can mislead viewers into expecting that the most recently selected program will be recorded when, in fact, it will not be recorded.